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| Celebrating our Similarities. Understanding our Differences. | |
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FEATURE February 2008 by Christina Twu © Copyright ColorsNW Magazine Legacy of Empowerment African-American professional groups create opportunity for the next generation Over the past few decades, African-American organizations in the Puget Sound area have built a thriving professional network nurtured by principles of self-sufficiency, equal opportunity, mentorship and entrepreneurship. The success of these groups – such as the Greater Seattle Chapter of The Links, an all-women international service organization; The Breakfast Group, a service, networking and leadership organization for men; and Tabor 100, an economic-empowerment group – epitomize the power and importance of strength in numbers. The Links, Seattle Chapter “Links is literally a full-time job,” says Gayle Johnson of her work as president of the Greater Seattle Chapter of The Links, “It’s like managing a mini-corporation.” Outside of her job as the chief development officer for Sound Mental Health, Johnson, 44, manages the work of around 53 active members and 11 alumni, as they busily chip away at the year’s activities that consist of hosting The Links’ first national assembly in Seattle in 30 years in July, preparing for its annual fundraiser and running a host of programs, including those at its adopted school, African American Academy in Beacon Hill, and its annual African Heritage Unity Celebration on Feb. 9, which promotes dialogue and alliance between immigrant Africans and African Americans in the Seattle area. In the larger scheme, the Seattle chapter members are part of the more than 12,000 Links members in 274 chapters that reach as far as South Africa, Germany and the Bahamas. Before it became a global organization and adopted infrastructure around program areas such as the arts, international and national trends and services, as well as local youth services, the Links’ formation in Seattle in 1955 rose out of a simple need to gather in friendship and serve their community. Guela Gayton Johnson, Johnson’s mother and original charter member of the Seattle chapter, remembers those days well. “In those days, the African-American population in Seattle was quite small,” says Gayton Johnson. This was before race-based housing discrimination in Seattle became illegal in 1968. In the midst of fighting for civil liberties, says Gayton Johnson, “We wanted to build up an attitude and appreciation for being African Americans, and that was to love themselves for their color.” In the 1970s, as part of the Links’ commitment to base services around national trends and needs in the African-American community at large, the Seattle chapter launched its “Black is Beautiful” program at the Yesler Community Center to ingrain and maintain values of positive self-image in young girls. As part of their commitment to expose children to the arts who wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity, Links members would arrange for youth to meet great African-American figures visiting the area, such as opera singer Marian Anderson and authors Maya Angelou and Lorenz Graham. And they brought their daughters into it. Gayle Johnson was 12 when she took on the role of president of Heir-O-Links, a group that ensures an intergenerational component and a passing of the torch. “Because my mom was in the organization, I basically grew up in the organization,” Johnson says. “The thing that’s very ironic is that in 1978, we had the national convention here when I was the president of the Heir-O-Links. Thirty years later, the national convention of the Links is going to be held here July 2 through (July) 6 this year. And I’m president of the organization 30 years later… You just kind of think back and go, ‘Wow, I was leading back then and now I’m leading again.’ ” Gayton Johnson doesn’t take too much credit for the leader her daughter has become today. “I think it was just by osmosis or something!” she laughs, citing the early exposure Johnson and many other former Heir-O-Links leaders had when the early chapter meetings were run out of members’ homes. Today, the
Seattle chapter has garnered national recognition from the Susan G. And through the tight operations of these programs, the group has remained affable overall, observing the intent of its original founders. “Our foundation is friendship,” says Gayle Johnson. “The focus is, if you are friends, you can do more in the community. You’re supporting each other.” The Breakfast Group Grits, laughs, talk of the morning news – all business as usual at a monthly Breakfast Group meeting at The First African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Seattle in January. “It’s always good to come home,” says former 1968 Olympics track gold medalist and Seattle native Charlie Greene, who decides to make a guest appearance. It’s introduction time at The Breakfast Group, a service, leadership and professional networking group for African-American men since 1976, now home to 80-some members. Those attending the January members meeting are in full business attire, greeting the likes of King County Councilmember Larry Gossett, former Washington Mutual executive Bob Flowers (once the group’s president) and former Seattle Sonics player James Donaldson. This meeting agenda is in order, as King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg discusses the disproportional representation of local black men and youth in the criminal justice system. But the mood remains light overall – a time of breaking bread and pride, especially with recent recognition from the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Washington Chapter as an outstanding philanthropic organization for 2007. “Most of this is like fellowship,” says the group’s board president Amani Harris, 37, a financial advisor for Smith Barney who has taken the initiative to recruit younger members to represent the next cycle of group leaders. Long before public officials acknowledged the startling statistics for black youth in the justice system, the Breakfast Group had its own way of addressing the issue, starting with business mentorship and networking, and eventually adopting an education program – a preventive service for young at-risk black men. Back in the early '70s, when the organization first started forming, the pioneers were a bunch of friends, and many of them the only executives of color at their companies, says charter member and retired Sears executive Ernie Dunston. “When I started out working with Sears, I was the first black executive hired by Sears,” says Dunston, 66. “I was the only black executive hired by Sears in the Pacific Northwest.” Naturally, the scarcity of African-American corporate professionals in the area in the ‘70s became a popular subject of conversation for the original charter members, which included founder Herman McKinney of Riley Group, Paul Mitchell, formerly of Macy’s, and Dr. Charles Mitchell, Seattle Community College district chancellor, among others. The talk eventually evolved into word-of-mouth recruitment of people of color into their companies. “What we would confer with each other about is, you know, how do we create opportunities in these companies?” Dunston recalls. “We wanted to kind of open it up and bring others in. So we were always working together and networking and seeing, ‘Who do we know that’s looking for a job? Who do we know that’s moving into a different position?’ … We made sure we had a line on people who were ready to take steps and move into these companies. As a result of that, our organization, we have a lot of people here who’ve pioneered at a lot of different companies who have brought others into the company.” In 1976, when the Breakfast Group became an official organization, the members implemented a service component, broadening from business mentorship and recruitment to economic development and education programs. In 1986, they launched Project MISTER – the group’s core program which serves predominately young black males at John Marshall Alternative School and South Lake High School in Seattle. Week to week, the group brings in some of its own members – representing companies from Safeco to Costco to Macy’s and Turner Construction Company – to share their stories of overcoming obstacles in their professions while presenting higher-education or job opportunities. Every spring, the group recognizes up to 100 young men who complete the Project MISTER curriculum at its annual Tie-One-On luncheon. The boys – as a rite of passage – also receive a tie and hard-soled dress shoes to encourage job search and contacts for employment opportunities. Some 65 to 70 other high-school students from Seattle schools are recognized at an All Achievers banquet at the end of the school year. Last school year, the Breakfast Group provided more than $30,000 in scholarships and textbook assistance to those high-school seniors who were accepted into college. Dunston remembers one particular graduate from years back whom he mentored personally, one who was on his way to prison, but had excelled in school and got accepted at the prestigious, historically black Morehouse College in Atlanta. But the boy’s plight wasn’t over. “After he had been accepted to Morehouse, he got into trouble,” Dunston recalls. “We were able to use our contacts to talk to the judge and get him a deferred sentence so he could get into Morehouse. This young man went to Morehouse, did wonderful at Morehouse. He’s out now working in inner-city Houston with the Teach For America program. He is having the time of his life.” Tabor 100 For Tabor 100 President Skip Rowland and the group of about 100 business and political leaders of color in the Seattle area, participation in business, legislation, economic development, education equity and international affairs is necessary to achieve the vision of a truly pluralistic society. “(Tabor 100) is a network for people who value people of color in the marketplace,” Rowland says. “I’d like to think that we represent the epitome of the American dream.” Whether it’s monthly members meetings covering topics such as how climate change will transform business practices, meet-and-greets with buyers from King County and Seattle public schools, proposing education about the legislative process to empower Seattle’s youth, or Tabor’s international affairs committee connecting with the president of Zambia, Tabor addresses a broad base of issues and institutions in serving the holistic mission of economic power for people of color in the Seattle area. Rowland, 62, who also serves as the executive director for the Urban Enterprise Center for the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, defines “economic power” as jobs that have social mobility, capital, policy that opens doors and connections through all those routes. Most of all, power is ownership, Rowland believes. “He or she who owns the city, builds the city; he or she who builds the city owns the city,” he says. “He and she who build and own the city have opportunities to provide foundations for wealth development and economic development for their families first and maybe the rest of the community second.” As a collective, Tabor 100 strives to combat social inequity by leveling the playing field economically for African Americans and people of color. “By increasing economic relativity in (communities of color), we can reduce crime, we can reduce people who go to prison, we can help those who are in prison,” says Rowland, who runs the mentoring consultation firm, Banner Cross. On an individual level, this means garnering tools for survival and filling the gap from self-employed beginnings to a solid know-how. “We’d like to help business owners of color from seeing themselves as self-employed to seeing themselves as real business people, to make that transformational leap from having your head down – in terms of going out and getting a contract, coming back, doing the work and getting paid – to looking at your business more broadly and developing business administration skills as well as the technical skills that allow you to provide your good or your service,” says Rowland, who has a doctorate in education with an emphasis on corporate multinational leadership. Inspired by the life of recently departed lobbyist and business mentor Langston Tabor in 1998, L. David Tyner of African American Partners for Prosperity founded Tabor 100 that same year to continue building the legacy of black entrepreneurialism and leadership in the Pacific Northwest. Since then, and recently under the leadership of immediate past President Craig Dawson, the nonprofit agency has become a multicultural and cross-gender organization. Since 2004, its female membership has shot up from zero to about 40 percent, Rowland says. In the past few years, Tabor has also allied with many minority business organizations, including the African American Partners for Prosperity, Plaza Bank, the Filipino Chamber of Commerce, the Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce and the Multi-Ethnic Business Alliance. And the legacy of alliance building will continue. “I see my role as expanding on that concept,” Rowland says.
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